Taranaki Open Surfcasting Challenge 2014
What a cracker, 5 days from the 5th to the 9th of November 2014 from Nukumaru Rock (Waiinu Beach) to the south bank of the Marokopa River, it was all on for young and old.
335 entries, 99 being there first time and 21 from outside of the Naki what a great effort, what a great comp.

We had planned it all around fishing north at Waikawau , So with anticipation to die for, gear packed, reels re-spooled, gear checked over and over again the 5th finally arrived.
Loaded we started our travels. Wednesday afternoon saw us crusing north stopping along the way checking things out as the comp didn’t start until 6pm so we had time to burn. Arriving at our destination around 4:30 we had a look around then a feed and started setting up camp.


The swell was still rather large for this place so I opted to take first time here mate to a high ledge away from trouble and just chill out and get the feel of things. Fishing was slow, mainly due to not having the long burley rope (left at the ute) and the swell we could not get the burley in the water, anyway after a couple of hours we had caught 3 Kahawai and returned a small snap, ending the night as darkness and the ran set in.
Back at camp a quick planning session was held for the next day and off to bed we went, then the rain really started. The tent I lent a mate was mint and kept the rain out as for mine the dreaded drip, drip drip….. Started so I bailed to the cab of the ute and spent the night curled up trying to get some sleep tossing and turning :-).

Day 2

Dawned with clear skies and a light winds perfect, I cooked sausages and eggs for breaky and yelled out to get up, well what got up may as well stayed where it was lol. Mate was in bad shape suffering from cold conditions and a migraine had started to set in “oh it’ll be right just have to sleep it off, will come down in an hour or two”
Right-o into it, being by yourself in these remote locations is not the best at any time but I have done it before and the key is to not take any risks especially 6 weeks post a serous car crash so for me it was cursing on the ledge enjoying the morning moving around a little checking out a few places of interest the sun was up over the cliffs behind me so I knew a few hours had passed and still on sign of matey hum, at this stage I had caught 3 Kahawai and dropped a solid suspected snap due to moving around the ledge too much (where was my gaff man). Still no sign of him, the wind was getting up so decided to head back to camp and check if all was OK.
Matey was tucked in the cab still not looking ready for 2 and a half, more days of this so a feed was had and a chat about what to do. We decided to take a ticky tour around and see if he improved and we could find shelter from the 20+ knot SW’er that had set in. It was great to go exploring and we spent most of the rest of the day doing so before the retreat back to NP

Once back in NP I dropped of matey and some excess gear and stopped in at Bell Block beach for a bash. While setting up I meet a fish’o from Feilding had a chat then headed down the beach that night I managed 1 Spotty around 2.5kg.
Day 3
Started back home for a clean-up. Unloaded all the gear, put some away, bait in freezer, food stashed, threw tents on line put a quick wash on, blasted the mud off the ute and got ready for the next adventure (Mokau).
After not looking at anything (forecasts, etc.) and just heading off on a mission again Nth, it was a poor decision but hay I had gone a whole lot further to turn around lol. Mokau was blowing in your face and the colour of mud, but again I went and checked out a couple of places of interest, found a ledge and area I’ve never fished threw a bait in for an hour or so and chilled

After an hour of nothing but weed I then bailed back to BB to check in on matey and throw a bait at a local hole. Not much happening there either. 8pm Friday it was time to go see wife and kids so home it was. Feeling deflated and fighting the urge to admit defeat I had an early night not sure on what to do.
Day 4
After a good night’s sleep I got up and cleaned the ute properly it’s owner decided to pop around mid-morning and we got a ride-on mower I gave him turning over and loaded in the back of his ute, (hum down a ute) What was the plan now? Knowing this time what the wind and swell was doing I knew of a sheltered spot that has performed from time to time and in a last ditched effort off I went.
Arriving on location around 6pm I meandered down the beach marking a few places of interest for the high tide. Water was mint, wind non-existent and I settled in for a long night. Spot 1 saw steady bites but aside from an eel and a large YEM on the final wined in I caught nothing else as the tide pushed me off the beach.
Spot 2 Burley out, YEM butterflied and stray lining 2nd setup out kicked back and waited.
Not too long later I had an eel followed by a spotty and after checking the bait on rod 2 the YEM got a big bend in it, then nothing, wound in a bit and hello all hell breaks loose after an exciting 30-60sec contemplating what it was I knew it was a Stingy 30-45mins later I had the bugger at my feet (little as it maybe I felt a little victory) he was safely returned and I went back to fishing. I kept getting these wack..wack..wack’s then nothing for a bit before starting again, rod in hand (I’ll sort this ****er out) wack..wack..strike “got em” thought for a sec it was a red cod but alas it was a nice we Gurnard. Tried for a few more but the best time had passed during my stingy fight. 3.30am I pulled the pin and returned home.

Final Tally = 4Ky, 2 Snapper (one lost), 2 Spottys, 1 Gurnard, 1 Stingray, 2Eels,
I’d Travelled over a thousand k's and Fished for 31hrs in 9 spots,

Day 5
Slept in :-) enjoyed the day with the family and chilled until 4pm when we headed down to prize giving
Prize giving was awesome great group of likeminded people telling stories of hard luck, the ones that got away and topped off by a very excited angler rolling a 12.2kg winning brute of a snap over his head.
To all the friends new and old, to my wife and kids, to the TOSC team and all the sponsors and supporters Thank You we all had a ball
Logan aka Naki

Final leader board telly
SNAPPER (FINAL)
1. 12.200kg Mark Ropiha
2. 11.340kg Willis Luttrell
3. 9.890kg Mohd Sapri
4. 9.790kg Shannon Nathan
5. 8.480kg Setu O'Brien
6. 7.720kg Brody Kelsen
7. 6.840kg Kelvin Phillips
8. 5.250kg Donald Jennings
9. 5.170kg Nazri Halim
10. 4.650kg Tarryn Pickford
Kahawai
1. 3.180kg Tony Olliver
2. 2.660kg Wes Sayer
3. 2.640kg Jeremy Brophy
4. 2.600kg James Leslie
5. 2.580kg Dan Funnell
6. 2.560kg Mike Foley
7. 2.555kg James Aitken
8. 2.440kg Mark Walsh
9. 2.390kg Jono Butler
10. 2.360kg Peter Aitken
Spotty
1. 10.740kg Carl Linnell
2. 9.900kg Brody Kelsen
3. 8.345kg Joe Savenye
4. 7.050kg James Jameson
5. 6.020kg Shaun Raven
6. 5.680kg Jay Oliver
TREVALLY (FINAL)
1. 6.800kg Mark Walsh
2. 4.225kg Alex Scott *
3. 3.415kg James Brown
3.390kg Alex Scott *
4. 3.180kg Kevin Munisamy
5. 2.980kg Hermes Javier
6. 2.680kg Willis Luttrell
GURNARD (FINAL)
1. 0.860kg Paddy Walsh
2. 0.800kg Warren Reweti
3. 0.780kg Owen Evans
4. 0.740kg Rhys Mekalick
5. 0.730kg Nathan Macaulay
6. 0.720kg Dylan McQuinn